xi, 265 pages ; 26 cm

"Why do members of a society become concerned and fearful about a practically non-existent threat? Why, even if a threat is real, do they show a concern so disproportionate to the magnitude of the threat itself? And why do certain "deviants" or "folk devils" so often become the target of society's wrath?" "This wonderfully readable and wide-ranging account of "moral panics" shows how and why institutions and groups of individuals mobilize around issues and supposed problems by which they feel threatened. From the Renaissance witch craze to the American drug panic of the 1980s, the authors explore the genesis, dynamics, and demise of moral panics - and examine their impacts on the societies in which they take place." "Moral Panics is not only the first, serious book-length treatment of a fascinating subject, but also a superb introduction to wider themes in the sociology of deviance and social problems."--Jacket

Includes bibliographical references (pages 230-252) and indexes

The Canudos Massacre: Brazil, 1893-7. The Boys of Boise. Rumor in Orleans, France, May 1969. Moral Panics -- 1. A Prelude to Moral Panics: Three Moral Crusades. The Prohibition Movement, 1900-1920. The Crusade for Anti-marijuana Legislation, the 1930s. The Sexual Psychopath Laws, the 1930s to the 1950s. Moral Crusades and Moral Panics -- 2. Enter Moral Panics. Media Reaction. Enter Stanley Cohen. Actors in the Drama of the Moral Panic. The Contribution of the Moral Panics Concept -- 3. Moral Panics: An Introduction. Indicators of the Moral Panic. The Locus of Moral Panics. A Critic of the Moral Panics Concept. Criteria of Disproportionality. Determining Harm: The Anti-pornography Movement. Determining Harm: The Anti-abortion Movement. Disproportionality: A Recapitulation. Moral Panics: An Inherently Ideological Concept? Moral Panics: An Overview. Moral Panics: Four Overlapping Territories. A Representative Moral Panic: LSD in the 1960s. A Representative Moral Panic: Satanic Ritual Abuse -- 4. Deviance and Morality. Relativity. Everything Is Relative: Or Is It? Deviance. Audiences. "Societal" versus "Situational" Deviance. Stereotyping. Deviant Categories Old and New. Does Relativism Condone Injustice? Deviance and Moral Panics -- 5. Deviance, Moral Entrepreneurs, and Criminal Law. The Objectively Given or Grassroots Approach. The Subjectively Problematic Approach: Crime as a Political Phenomenon. Rule Creators and Moral Entrepreneurs. Moral Entrepreneurs and Moral Panics. Power. Common Law or "Primal" Crimes. Recapitulation -- 6. Social Problems. Objectivism. Constructionism. The "Discovery" of Social Problems. Strict Constructionism. Contextual Constructionism: Concern versus Harm. Multiple Definitions of Problems. Social Problems and Moral Panics -- 7. Collective Behavior. Rumor. Contemporary or Urban Legends. Mass Hysteria and Collective Delusion. Persecutions and Renewals. Disasters -- 8. Social Movements. Interest Groups: Insiders versus Outsiders. Social Movements: Claims and Arguments. Social Movements and Moral Panics -- 9. Three Theories of Moral Panics. The Grassroots Model. The Elite-engineered Model. Interest-group Theory. Selecting Cases -- 10. The Renaissance Witch Craze. Witchcraft, Witch-hunts, and the Witch Craze. The Historical Development of the European Witch Craze. The European Witch Craze: The Unanswered Questions. Timing: Why Did the Witch-hunts Begin? The End of the Medieval Order. Witchcraft as an Ideology: The Question of Content and Target. Timing: Termination of the Witch Craze -- 11. The Israeli Drug Panic of May 1982. Narrative of the 1982 Israeli Drug Panic. Discussion. Morality, Deviance, Ideology, and Moral Panics: The Question of Content. The May 1982 Moral Panic: Morality and Interests -- 12. The American Drug Panic of the 1980s. The Decade of the 1980s: Measures of Public Concern. Why the Drug Panic? Crack Babies: A Panic-driven, Mythical Syndrome? Is the Objectivist Perspective Irrelevant? 1986-1989: A Moral Panic over Drug Abuse? -- Epilogue: The Demise and Institutionalization of Moral Panics

Self-Renewing 2017

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